First Amendment

Law Prof Sues Students, Says They Defamed Him by Calling Him a Racist

A constitutional law professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has filed a defamation suit against two students that says they wrongly accused him of being a racist. The suit by Richard Peltz says he took part in a legitimate debate on affirmative action at the invitation of…

May 1, 2008 10:47 AM CDT

Prayerful Wisconsin Parents to be Charged in Death of Diabetic Daughter

The parents of an 11-year-old Wisconsin girl who went into a diabetic coma and died as her parents prayed for her for days rather than seeking medical attention will be charged with second-degree reckless homicide, officials said at a news conference today. If convicted, Dale and Leilani Neumann face up…

Apr 28, 2008 9:12 PM CDT

Fla. Senate Seeks to Ban ‘Truck Nutz’

Despite arguments that the ban unduly impinges on drivers’ First Amendment rights, the Florida Senate has voted to prohibit owners from dangling fake bull testicles from the rear of their vehicles. “Motorists would be fined $60 for displaying the novelty items, which are known by brand names like ‘Truck Nutz’…

Apr 28, 2008 4:13 PM CDT

Lawyers Who Support Religious Liberties Question Polygamy Case

Some lawyers who support religious freedoms are questioning the removal of more than 400 children from a polygamous sect. These lawyers argue that evidence of some underage girls being forced into marriage doesn’t merit the wholesale removal of all children from a Texas ranch. An emergency appellate hearing in the…

Apr 25, 2008 2:47 PM CDT

Fla. Bar Reverses Course, Allows Lawyers to Tout Avvo Rankings

The controversial lawyer-ranking website Avvo is fighting battles on several fronts in its effort to list lawyers in every state. In the most recent skirmish, the Florida Bar’s Standing Committee on Advertising has reversed course and decided that lawyers may tout their Avvo ratings in advertising, the Financial News and…

Apr 25, 2008 2:17 PM CDT

Judge Refuses Request for More Openness in R. Kelly Trial

A Chicago judge has refused a media request to open pretrial proceedings in the prosecution of singer R. Kelly on a child-pornography charge. Judge Vincent Gaughan has ousted reporters from some pretrial hearings in the case against Kelly, who is accused of videotaping himself having sex with an underage girl,…

Apr 25, 2008 12:01 PM CDT

Appeals Court Allows High School Student to Wear Anti-Gay T-Shirt

A federal appeals court has ruled that a suburban Chicago high school student may wear an anti-gay T-shirt to school. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a preliminary injunction allowing the student to wear the shirt to protest a day of silence that promotes tolerance of gays,…

Apr 25, 2008 11:16 AM CDT

Texas Appeals Court to Hear Emergency Challenge in Polygamy Ranch Raid

As Texas officials separated more than 100 mothers from their children in a controversial 462-child custody case concerning a religious sect that has advocates polygamy and teenage marriages, a state appeals court has agreed to hear a due-process challenge on an emergency basis. (The number of children said to be…

Apr 25, 2008 12:11 AM CDT

Judge Critical of ‘Broken’ Pretrial System in Fla. Faces Discipline

The future of an outspoken Florida judge is in the hands of the state judicial ethics authorities. At issue is whether St. Lucie County Judge Cliff Barnes is a champion of justice trying to fix a system with too many pretrial defendants in lockup because they can’t afford counsel or…

Apr 24, 2008 1:46 PM CDT

Judge: School Wrong to Allow Gideons to Pass Out Bibles

Within hours of a federal court ruling that a Louisiana school district violated the First Amendment by allowing Gideons International to pass out pocket bibles to fifth-graders last May, a unanimous school board voted to appeal the case to the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit. “We are somewhat surprised, but very…

Apr 23, 2008 1:23 PM CDT

Child Protection v. the Constitution: Did Removal of 437 Kids Violate Parents’ Rights?

Updated: As the state of Texas proceeds with DNA tests this week to try to determine exactly who parents and siblings are in a controversial custody case that, at last count, involved 437 children, lawyers for the families—as well as some observers—are expressing concern about possible violations of parents’ constitutional…

Apr 22, 2008 6:28 PM CDT

Lawyer Throws Open Secretive Sect’s Gates to Media

Before authorities raided their western Texas compound, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was a closed, secretive community. All inquiries from the media were uniformly rejected. But, as the Associated Press reports, when hundreds of children from the polygamous sect were rounded up and removed from…

Apr 21, 2008 6:44 PM CDT

Judge Orders DNA Testing of 416 Kids; Sect Reconsiders Sex With Minors

More than 400 children removed from a polygamous sect on suspicions that they are being subjected to abuse or are at risk will undergo DNA testing this week so their complicated family connections can be sorted out. Judge Barbara Walther, who is presiding over what is considered the largest, most…

Apr 21, 2008 3:26 PM CDT

Right to Life, Judges File New Suit Challenging Judicial Ethics Code

Two candidates for judge and the Indiana Right to Life Committee have filed a federal lawsuit to block enforcement of state rules that bar the judges from answering a survey that asks about their views on abortion, assisted suicide and other hot-button issues. The candidates, Marion Superior Court Judge David…

Apr 21, 2008 10:31 AM CDT

Courts Reluctant to Stop Divorcing Bloggers From Airing Complaints

Courts are reluctant to stop divorcing bloggers from revealing intimate details of their marriages or engaging in angry rants about their spouses in online postings. The courts are citing the First Amendment in refusing to intervene, the New York Times reports. A New York judge has refused to block a…

Apr 18, 2008 1:47 PM CDT